The Brewers Association released its annual list of the biggest craft brewers in the U.S. today (March 31), with Great Lakes Brewing Co. in Cleveland slipping one spot from last year to 20th. As with past years, Great Lakes is the only Ohio-based brewery on the list.

Boston Beer Co., which has a Samuel Adams brewery in Cincinnati, is the No. 1 craft brewer in the nation. The rest of the top five, in order, are: Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, Gambrinus and Lagunitus. Lagunitus and Deschutes swapped spots, with Deschutes dropping to sixth and Lagunitus moving up to fifth.

Hoppin' Frog Brewery in Akron will release its seasonal Turbo Shandy Citrus Ale in the Tasting Room starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday. (April 1) The beer will be available on draft, and also in 22-ounce bottles to go for $7.99.

The Tasting Room promised to have food specials and beer pairings with Turbo Shandy during the week. The Boca Loca Burrito Factory food truck also will be at the brewery on April 4 for lunch to celebrate the release.

-- Just in time for the start of the Major League Baseball season, The Daily Meal reports on the "Top Baseball Stadiums for Craft Beer," with Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati coming at No. 3. Progressive Field in Cleveland ranks No. 13. To read the full story, click here.

A beer festival is coming back to Garrettsville. Several years ago, the Main Street Grille & Brewing Co. hosted the Frozen Falls Beer Festival — named after the small, picturesque falls behind the brewpub.

-- Drink Up Columbus reports that Goose Island Beer brewer Russell Woelfel is visiting Columbus next week as part of the brewery's Migration Week tour. To read the full report and see where he'll be, click here.

-- The Medina Gazette reports that Lager Heads Brewing Co. is moving its brewery out of its barbecue restaurant/bar and into a separate building near downtown Medina. The brewery has outgrown its current site, co-owner Jon Kiene told the newspaper. There are plans for a tasting room at the new site. To read the full story, click here.

The website Ohio Craft Beer is making it easier for beer drinkers to lobby Ohio lawmakers on House Bill 391. In case you forgot, that's the proposed legislation that would increase the legal limit on alcohol-by-volume in beer from 12 percent to 21 percent.

Ohio Craft Beer has created a page with a link to the bill and will help identify your state lawmaker so you can contact him or her. To check out the page, click here.

Ohio has been extremely friendly to craft brewers in recent years. (Allowing production breweries to open taprooms, lowering the annual licensing fee for them ...) Republican Gov. John Kasich, who's up for election this year against Democratic Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, is reminding Ohioans of that in a new YouTube video sponsored by the Republican Governors Association.

-- The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the state bill that would increase the ABV limit for beer in Ohio remains in committee and hasn't had a hearing yet. There's no target date for a hearing, but one will happen, the newspaper says. To read the full story, click here.

OK, let's put this discrepency to bed. The Brewing News National Imperial IPA Championship winner is El Lupulo Libre. There's been some confusion about how to spell the name of the beer from The Brew Kettle.

Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. and Chris Felix Fine Art are teaming up for an "Opening Day & Baseball Art and Memorabilia" show at the Christian Moerlein Malt House Taproom in Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati. The event kicks off at 6 p.m. March 29 and runs until midnight. It will continue from noon to 7 p.m. March 30 and from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. March 31, which is opening day for the Cincinnati Reds against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Joe Tucker, the executive director of RateBeer.com, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Ohio Brew Week. The event, a massive celebration of Ohio beer held each year in Athens, is July 11-19.

“I was surprised and honored to get the invite,” Tucker said in an email. “I was last in Ohio visiting my wife’s family there many years ago and the locals seemed to look down on what even then was an enthusiastic, burgeoning scene — abv limits and all. There were so many options — distribution was fantastic, some very good Ohio brewers as well and even a thriving gray market for connoisseurs.

Phew. Here are plenty of -- maybe too many -- interesting beer stories, as I catch up on some reading:

-- The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports on the difference between Great Lakes Brewing Co. in Cleveland and Great Lakes Brewery in Toronto. "While the names are close, each has a distinct personality," author Marc Bona writes. To read the full story, click here.

The Buckeye State rocks when it comes to imperial IPAs. Ohio breweries dominated the recently concluded National Imperial IPA Competition, with The Brew Kettle in Strongsville taking home the crown and three of the final four beers hailing from the state.

The annual competition, sponsored by the Brewing News, is run similar to the NCAA March Madness tournament with beers being pitted against each other in a judged tasting until there is only one standing.

Hats off to Main Street, Black Box and Hoppin’ Frog. The three breweries took home awards at the Akron Art Museum’s seventh annual Art and Ale beer tasting Friday night.

A panel of three judges — museum Executive Director Mark Masuoka, museum Board of Trustees member Rory O’Neil and Cleveland Plain Dealer writer Marc Bona — chose Main Street Ma Barker’s Birch Beer, Black Box Abbey Ale and Hoppin’ Frog B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher as the top beers of the evening. (Note: I was supposed to be one of the judges but have been felled by a nasty sinus infection and ear infection.)

Winks Bar and Grille in Cleveland will host an exclusive launch party for Brewery Ommegang's new Fire and Blood Red Ale, a beer inspired by the HBO drama Game of Thrones and character Daenerys Targaryen's three dragons. The event is from 6 to 10 p.m. March 29.

Here are some interesting beer stories, with a whole lot of news about Ohio:

-- The Bellefontaine Examiner reports that the community is getting a brewery-steakhouse. The Chops & Hops Brew Haus hopes to open in Bellefontaine by June. “We want this to be a family atmosphere even though we will have a brewery,” co-owner Dan Stinebaugh told the newspaper. “We visited a lot of breweries in California and it seems the most successful ones are family-oriented. And we think Bellefontaine is a good place to start out.” To read the full story, click here.

Called The Ohio Craft Beer Guide, the magazine — which is still contingent on selling enough advertising — will include articles, listings of breweries and a centerfold map highlighting Ohio beer trails. About 100,000 copies are expected to be printed and available at breweries, festivals, retail outlets and beverage stores around the state.

-- The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the Wholesale Beer & Wine Association of Ohio dumped a boatload of money into the campaign pockets of state politicians right as they were approving a bill making sure brewers can't own distributorships in the state. At the time, Anheuser-Busch InBev was buying C&G Distributing in Lima. House Speaker Bill Batchelder, R-Medina, got the most cash: $25,655.52. To read the full story, click here.

Market Garden Brewery in Cleveland will celebrate St. Patrick's Day weekend with the release of its Bourbon Barrel-Aged Danny Greene "Enforcer" Imperial Stout on Sunday. (March 16) There also will be Irish dancers and food throughout the weekend.

-- Warped Wing Brewing Co. in Dayton will hold a special tribute tonight (March 7) for Lauren Bodey, a Warped Wing employee who died in a car crash earlier this week. The brewery will donate $1 from every pint sold to the Bodey family. Warped Wing also will unveil its newest beer, Maa Durga Red IPA. For more details, click here.

Founded in 2003 in Kiln, Miss., Lazy Magnolia was the first packaging brewery to open in Mississippi since Prohibition. It carries the slogan “Mississippi’s Brewery.” Ohio is the first state outside the South where it will distribute, the news release said.

Land-Grant Brewing Co. has found a home. The brewery announced Thursday (March 6) that it will launch in a 12,000-square-foot facility on West Town Street in the East Franklinton neighborhood of Columbus.

Great Lakes Brewing Co. -- which prides itself on being a good environmental steward -- on Tuesday announced a monthlong Earth Day celebration that involves the Cleveland brewery partnering with groups on projects in 13 different cities.

Elevator Brewing Co. has released Big Vic Imperial IPA in 12-ounce bottles for the first time. The beer, which has been available on draft before, is a wheat-India pale ale hybrid and clocks in at 8.6 percent alcohol by volume.

-- Scene Magazine reports that Buckeye Brewing Co. will open a tasting room. "We're putting it on the other side of the building, by Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park," brewer and owner Garin Wright tells the weekly magazine. "It will be a very urban, non-yuppie type place that caters to Westsiders and out-of-towners." To read the full story, click here.

Great Lakes Brewing Co., which prides itself on being a positive environmental steward in the community, has donated 50-gallon drums that are being turned into colorful rain barrels in Green. Some of the barrels have been hand-painted by local residents and went on sale today (March 4) in a silent auction.